


No Will But My Will

by AstroGirl



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-17
Updated: 2013-02-17
Packaged: 2017-11-29 16:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/688841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstroGirl/pseuds/AstroGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who needs empathy when you have mind control? A tiny glimpse of the Master's POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Will But My Will

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, this little character snippet comes from sometime before the Time War. Warning: contains discussion of mental violation. Written for Trope Bingo for the prompt "mind control."

The Master himself aside -- of course -- the Time Lords are on the whole a weak and pathetic species. They could have absolute power, _cosmic_ power, if only they dared to take it. Instead, they reject what should be their destiny to huddle apathetically on their home planet, prattling endlessly at each other about trivialities and letting their natural superiority go entirely to waste.

Consider, for example, telepathy. All Time Lords possess the ability to at least some degree, and it can be cultivated and strengthened through practice. Indeed, with natural talent and sufficient effort, it can be honed into an extraordinarily powerful tool. And yet, the fools utterly refuse to make use of it. They consider it somehow... gauche. As an undignified form of intimacy, at best, to be shared only behind closed doors and not discussed in polite company afterward. And if, Rassilon forbid, one is absolutely forced to use it for some pragmatic end, it must be employed as minimally and as apologetically as possible. Anything else is unacceptable.

The Master, fortunately, has never minded being thought unacceptable. Indeed, he quite enjoys it, enjoys the thought of those sanctimonious idiots working themselves into states of appalled shock at his actions, and enjoys even more the thought of one day _forcing_ them to accept him, entirely against their will.

And that, of course, is exactly what telepathy is good for.

The Master has often been told that he is a psychopath, that he lacks empathy. _Empathy!_ As if empathy were useful. He cannot for the life of him understand why suffering the emotions of others should be considered desirable. Especially not when one can instead feel their _minds_. Empathy, he has long ago concluded, is for those who cannot directly perceive the shapes and contours of others' psyches, cannot probe their weaknesses or subdue their struggles. Why should he concern himself with the thoughts and feelings of others when he can make them feel what _he_ wants, think what _he_ wants? 

He fantasizes, sometimes, about being able to go further than that. What a delight it would be to not merely impose commands on other's minds, but to impose _himself_ upon them, not just for the moment it takes to implant a suggestion, but forever. Now _there_ is a thought that would shock his fellow Time Lords! And not merely the uninteresting ones, either. The look on the Doctor's face would be reward enough by itself... at least until _he_ succumbed to the Master's will, as well. Just imagine it! If all minds could be _his_ mind, expressions of his mind, reflections of his mind... Now, that would truly be an accomplishment worthy of him! More than that, it would finally guarantee him some appreciation at last. It would make this a world worth living in.

But for now... "I am the Master," he whispers over and over, to his latest victim, to his people, to the universe at large. "I am the Master, and _you will obey me_."

One day, he is sure, the universe will listen.


End file.
